ONLY FAMILY MATTERS

The Symbol and Story of the Warner and Mendenhall Connection: Noah's Ark

While residing and working for the Friends in the South for the purpose of establishing schools and programs for teachers to instruct the recently freed slave children in the late 1800's, Quaker abolitionist Yardley Warner hand-carved a replica of Noah's Ark, a "Sunday Toy", for his three boys, Randall, Alan and J. Yardley. When Yardley died, his wife Anne Elizabeth Horne Warner, sold their household contents and she and her sons returned to England to be close to her family. The Warner Noah's Ark was bought by a member of the Mendenhall Family, also Quakers involved in the Underground Railroad movement. As luck would have it, J. Yardley and his young family returned to America and settled in Chester County, PA., as did the Mendenhall descendants. Even more coincidentally, the Mendenhall family donated the Warner Noah's Ark to the Museum in High Point, North Carolina where it remains on view to this day. Skipping a generation, and long story short, J.Yardley's granddaughter, Rosalie Joan Connell married the Mendenhall family's grandson, Joseph William McFadden.

Yardley Warner, youngest son of William and Letitia Warner, was born November 2, 1815. He was named after his paternal grandmother Hannah Yardley Warner. Yardley Warner married Hannah Allen in 1842. They had five children together. Hannah A. Warner died in 1872, and Yardley married again in England in 1877. He married Anne Horne. Together they had 3 boys, one of which, Joseph Yardley Warner, married Stella Mary Stoner. Joseph and Stella had two girls, the youngest of which was Ellen Mary Warner, who married John Patrick Connell Jr., a faithful Roman Catholic. Ellen and John had two girls and a boy. Their middle child, Rosalie Joan Connell, married Joseph William McFadden. Together they had two girls. The youngest, Cheryl, died of cystic fibrosis, and the other, Colleen Marie, married Victor Mario Zunino. They had one child, Victoria Rosalie Zunino, myself. This report will discuss Yardley Warner, a devout Quaker, and his work in the South after the Civil War establishing schools for the recently freed slaves. Yardley Warner went to law school, got his degree, and was admitted to the Bar Association of Philadelphia, but never practiced. Instead, he became a teacher. He taught at many different schools up to and during the war years, then, when the slaves were freed, helped the Friends Freedmen’s Aid of Association of Philadelphia. He raised large amounts for establishing schools in the South for ex-slaves, and then, along with many others, went to the South himself to help educate the ex-slaves. He helped to establish schools an training schools for ex-slaves so they could learn how to become teachers themselves. He traveled throughout the South, including Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Yardley Warner was threatened and shot at by former slavers while doing his work, and still later wrote, “I have again traversed all those parts, was cordially welcomed, and could go back there now, to be received as the friend of both races.” Yardley Warner taught and was superintendent at schools throughout the South. In between his visits to different schools he went back and forth to see his wife Hannah, until her death on September 25, 1872. He later went to Ireland and England to plead his cause. He raised more money with which to build schools. It was during this time that he met his second wife, Anne Horne. On his second visit he married her. Also on this visit he was a village school-master in Wales. They went back to America and he continued his work, and was joined by Anne. My ancestor Yardley Warner worked to educate those who needed to be shown how to live in a world different from the one they were used to. He did the right thing according to his Quaker religion and the right thing as a member of the human race. If all people would do what he did, the world would be a much better place.

Howard and Helen Mendenhall "on the boards" at Atlantic City

When Bud and Joe graduated from Avon-Grove, Bud joined the Paratroopers, Joe joined the Navy

THAT'S OUR NANA

She’s Kindness and Sweetness,There’s Love in her Heart;And Patience With Honor,Rate High on her Chart;She’s Memories And Stories,We Beg Her to Share;About Howard And JoJo,That Mischievous Pair!That’s NanaShe’s The Baker Of Cookies,An Endless Supply;It’s Tollhouse or Raisins,But Rarely A Pie;She’s Shopping And Dining,She Waits At Her Door;She’s TicTacs And Tea Towels,And Oh So Much More.Our NanaShe’s Smiles,She’s Laughter,Good Nature Abounds;And Sharing With Neighbors,While Making Her Rounds;At Crosswords, A Demon,With Pen in Her Hand;And Likewise at Scrabble,The Best In The Land.That’s NanaShe ‘s Hymnals And “Oldies”,We Listen With Glee;She’s Books And She’s Papers,Her Clippings To See;She’s The Warmest Of Fuzzies,With Spirit of Flowers;God Bless Her And Keep Her,Because She Is Ours . .Our Nana